Fort Nisqually

Today I took my fourth grade students to Fort Nisqually. It was the Hudson's Bay Company trading post back in the 1800's. Michael McGuire (good Irish man) was our tour guide for the day. We gathered outside the fort at 10:00am and concluded the tour at 12:30. Mr. McGuire had their attention the entire time. My students learned so many new things. They thoroughly enjoyed their time. Mr. McGuire said that the man who ran the fort (Mr. Tolmie) used to teach his children from 5:30am to 7:30am and then the kids would go to school! Hopefully my students will appreciate the blessing of living in our time period and be thankful they don't have all the responsibilities boys and girls did in those days. I know I am especially thankful for indoor plumbing. Getting up in the middle of the night to use a "chamber pot" doesn't sound like to much fun, let alone using the privy (outhouse) at that time of the day! We concluded our tour with a lovely picnic lunch.
This tour was especially interesting to Jamesy because his great, great, great-grandfather worked for the Hudson's Bay Company in Victoria, Canada back in the 1800's. Still trying to find out his exact invlovement.